more emphasis on duskier shades that
makes single notes sound a little rounder
and more pearlescent—giving chords a
beautifully smooth character that sounds
great through a blackface Fender Deluxe at
just about any volume.
The neck pickup is svelte and muscular—not burly or high output like a
humbucker by any means, but simultaneously lean and rich in low-end character
and able to enrich a band or recorded mix
without hogging frequency bandwidth. It
also sounds gorgeous with just a touch of
pedal compression and delay—enabling you
to move from Jim Hall-in-space mellow to
David Gilmour soaring with a little manipulation of the tone and volume knobs.
The two pickups together in parallel is
a delicious combination—rich with harmonic content that you can feather and
massage with a soft touch on the smooth
and spongy tremolo. Though it’s the two
pickups together in series that’s the revelation, and by switching it to this fourth
position, the signal gets much hotter and
wider. But the real treat is the expansive,
beautifully sustaining low end. At lower
RATINGS
Pros: Super-wide range of warm tones. Stable tuning.
Great vibrato system.
Fender Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar, $1,699 street, fender.com
Cons: Cramped neck for bigger hands. Short scale and
lower output pickups mean less sustain.
Tones
Playability
Build
Value
to medium volumes, tones from the low E
and A strings are warm and simultaneously
big, detailed, and harmonically focused
with a touch of just-right natural compression. Jazzy explorations and mellow space-rock excursions using a droning 6th string
sound warm and sonorous—especially
when tuned down to D and C#. And with
a blackface Deluxe cranked wide open, the
Jag rumbles with a dark, husky growl that
takes to everything from light overdrive to
beehive fuzz without losing any of its deep
harmonic personality.
The Verdict
With its smart and practical electron-
ics, great pickups, super-musical vibrato
system, and even little touches like shorter
switches that prevent accidental pickup
switching, the Johnny Marr Jaguar is a per-
fect example of how an artist with decades
of playing experience across a myriad of
styles can see deeper into a design’s poten-
tial, and help a manufacturer build a better
mousetrap. Marr’s refinements probably
won’t make a difference to a player that’s
determined that a Telecaster or Stratocaster
is the height of functionality and tone
purity. And some Jaguar purists are bound
to cry foul. But for the player that can
approach each and every guitar as a blank
slate and relishes every guitar’s potential as
an expressive tool, the Johnny Marr Jaguar
will be a carnival of sonic possibilities.
